Game Review: Yakuza Kiwami Review - Japanese trunk with heart of gold

You are Kiryu, the dying leader of a new Yakuza family. But if his current boss is killed, Kiryu takes on the debt and ends up in prison. Once free, he has to rebuild his life as an honorable criminal from nothing at all.

For our good citizens, organized crime is sometimes a little romantic: a closed community that is perhaps criminal, but also full of honor and adventure. In fiction then. Like the mafia in The Godfather, or the Japanese criminal syndicates known as the Yakuza.

Whoever does not follow the series can get the impression that Yakuza Sega's response to Grand Theft Auto. An impression that is incorrect. Yakuza's roots are more complex. The game world is fairly open, but not as big as, for example, Grand Theft Auto 5. Instead of size, Yakuza focuses on the details. The result is an enormously rich environment, with countless visual expansions, as well as a lot of activities to try out. The series is rather related to Shenmue.

Killing cans

There is a lot of attention for the story. Yakuza extends the time here, with long melodies, full of meaningful cans, long silence and tough Japanese criminals talk. However, not all characters are equally credible. Kiryu is an interesting, silent hero who moves through the scenes with dignity and sustained emotion. But Yumi, the love interest of Kiryu, is again an apathetic doll with the only role of being a victim. The cast is varied enough, with both realistic and absurd figures. The latter creates the much needed comic note. Because although most of the game is a serious crime drama, we really want to bend the Netflix series, there are plenty of strange twists in the game that make the game both airy and undeniable Japanese.

One of those absurd elements is an enemy that can fight you time and again, but always has another disguise. It's always a surprise when it appears, and the fights are a kind of mini-boss fight that lets you release new fighting techniques. It's all very bizarre, and the motivations for the fights are rather laughing. Tour works very well within the stylized realism of the game.

Stylized is also the appearance. Although the characters have normal human proportions, all the figures are quite smoothly shaped. It's just no 'uncanny valley', maybe just because the faces and facial animations are dated. The entire game world is also featured with a kind of wax layer that shines and shines. Even garbage in the streets looks like it's new garbage. Combined with the high resolution and constant fading of 60 fps, this creates a dreamy and attractive whole. Especially because there are so many details in the environments.

Fight

In addition to exploring the world and following the (well-defined) missions, fighting is the most important activity you perform. Kiryu is a master in various fighting styles, which you select with the four-point pushbutton. Each fighting style has its pros and cons. Do you choose speed, brute force or motion? Then it's a matter of the right combo's and dodge on time or blocks to survive the many nodes. Knokpartijen who do something about the random fights in a jrpg. You can be challenged on the street at any time and there are also important points of battle from combat scenes.

The fighting itself sometimes has some way from old-fashioned button bashen. Certainly in the beginning it is mainly a matter of weak blow, weak blow, weak blow, hard blow. But gradually you will learn new moves and new techniques. Additionally, you can use objects in the area to create additional damage. And then there are the finishing moves that you can put in at certain moments.

Yakuza Kiwami is a remake of the first Yakuza game, using the game of a modern engine. In addition to a graphic refresh, the game has also been polished in gameplay. Who ever played the PS2 version knows how frustrating and limited the street fights were sometimes. All those minor problems have been solved, with more depth, better camera and of course better control. Fighting at the normal difficulty level is very spicy. It's so spicy that it may be a good idea to switch to "easy" from time to time for the progress of the story. And that can be happening so you do not run against a concrete wall when you can not handle a particular boss.

More

Still, it's a mistake to think that Yakuza Kiwami is just a brawler. There is a lot to do and discover, with many side missions and mini games. For example, there is a collectible card game, a hidden casino, a strange arcade wrestling game and more. All these side activities show how strong the relationship between Yakuza and Shenmue is. The makers want you to live in this world and that works very well. It's very hard to bore you with all those optional activities.

Nevertheless, it is ultimately the story that the game gives its greatest driving force to the end. No, it's not all super written, but it does not matter. Yakuza Kiwami also pretends to be not high art. It's a thriller and a melodrama that takes full advantage of its setting. It feels like a trip to Japan with a guide that takes you to a world below the surface where tourists never come. And that's a huge achievement for a game.

Yakuza Kiwami is now available for PlayStation 4.

Conclusion

Yakuza Kiwami picks up a classic crime game for the PlayStation 2, until it literally shines. Thanks to a very captivating story, which is now playing in a contemporary setting, it's hard to get you out of this world. Combine that with a fun fighting system and a lot of well-crafted side activities and you have a game that feels modern on all fronts. Absurd elements can sometimes feel like style breaks, but the whole is worth the effort from start to finish.

➕ Story and setting are great, lots to do, much to discover.

➖ Odd difficulty, graphically maybe a little too smooth.

Thanks for reading.

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